If there's one thing people have little empathy for, these days, it's empathy.

There but for the grace of God, as the saying goes. Only I have that grace, and you don't — so get lost.

"Suicidal empathy" (a favorite Elon Musk phrase) "the sin of empathy" (coined by conservative Christian writer Joe Rigney) "toxic empathy" (a book by Allie Beth Stuckey) are emblematic of the new mood.

Callousness is part of our daily news diet. ICE raids, the assassination of political commentators, the gutting of social programs, the name calling and abuse on both sides of the political spectrum, are the background noise of our lives.

Are we experiencing an empathy drought? Not only do we appear to have less compassion for others, but we are being told, by many commentators, that we should not feel bad about not feeling bad.

What exactly is empathy, anyway? And is it, in fact, always good?

It’s good for democracy, philosophy professor Peter Dlugos would argue.

"Democracy requires pluralism, and pluralism requires empathy," said Dlugos, chair of the department of philosophy and religion at Bergen Community College in Paramus.

You can't, in other words, live in a democracy if you're not willing to tolerate people unlike yourself.

And you can't be tolerant, if you're not able — or willing — to imagine how you would feel, if you were they.

"I tend to think that empathy is a capacity we all have," said philosopher Heidi L. Maibom, author of "The Space Between: How Empathy Really Works," and other books on the subject. "It's something that evolved a long time ago."

But we all — as well — have a natural limit to........

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